Crystal mush interaction controls eruptive style during the 2018 Kīlauea fissure eruption

Abstract

We use new geochemical, petrological, and rheological data to constrain the formation and emplacement of the highly compositionally unusual(andesitic basalt) Kīlauea 2018 Fissure 17 (F17) eruptive products. Despite the restricted spatial and temporal distribution, F17 samples are texturally and geochemically diverse. The western samples are enriched in SiO₂ by up to 10 wt%, relative to their eastern equivalents; additionally, the western samples contain microcrystalline enclaves, absent from the homogenous eastern samples. The compositions erupted along F17 suggest interaction between the basaltic 2018 juvenile magma and a crystal mush at depth, likely a left-over from the nearby 1955 eruption. Magma mingling caused heating and local melting of remnant mush, leading to melt hybridization and volatile exsolution. Rapid water exsolution likely caused overpressurization of the reservoir underneath the western side of F17, leading to Strombolian explosions of viscous magma, in contrast to sustained Hawaiian fountaining on the eastern side. Remelting of remnant crystal mush and melt hybridization in open-conduit systems may hence be an effective mechanism in inducing volatile saturation.